OPINION
I was a member of the Prince William County 2013 – 2016 Strategic Planning Team. It consisted of twenty appointees representing a wide variety of political, philosophical, and business points of view. It was a good mix.
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Politics
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By DELEGATE RICH ANDERSON
The annual legislative session of the Virginia General Assembly will be a vigorous event with a robust agenda and breathtaking tempo. The first indicator of what lies ahead took form at Gov. Bob McDonnell’s annual budget presentation at the Virginia state capitol on December 17 to the House and Senate money committees. His focus was on the two-year, $85 billion Virginia biennial budget, a challenging task because Virginia, unlike Washington, must balance its books and has realized three straight years of revenue surpluses.
Congressman Gerry Connolly and 39 others are urging support of a nationwide gun buyback program in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut.
Connolly and 39 others in congress signed their names to a letter sent to House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi asking for their support for a buyback program.
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So, who is the Sheriff of Nottingham of Prince William County?
The elusive blogger that has captured the attention of county residents and government officials agreed, for the first time, to be interviewed. He sat down in a coffee shop and opened up about the state of local government, the problems it faces as he sees them, and shared his disdain for the way local government is run in Prince William County.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. — Six candidates Wednesday night made their case for an interim appointment to the Prince William County School Board.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Business leaders had the opportunity to gain insight on key issues for the 2013 General Assembly session during the Prince William Chamber of Commerce’s “Legislative Kick-off.”
The event, which was held at Old Hickory Golf Club Wednesday, featured members of the Prince William delegation to the Virginia General Assembly. Senators Charles Colgan (D-29), Linda S. (Toddy) Puller (D-36), George L. Barker (D-39), Richard Stuart (R-28), and Delegates Robert G. Marshall (R-13), Tim Hugo (R-40), Jackson Miller (R-50), Richard Anderson (R-51), and Ramadan (R-87) each had an opportunity to talk about where their efforts will be focused in the coming session, which begins January 9, 2013.
WOODBRIDGE, Va. — In an annual budget process that began earlier in the cycle than normal, political leaders are far from running out of steam.
Prince William County Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland on Tuesday called a review by county staff of his flat tax budget plan for fiscal year 2014 – a plan designed to curtail spending and to hold property taxes at their current rates – a presentation that was riddled with mathematical errors and false assumptions.
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WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Ideas on how to fund the needs of Prince William County are on the table, though some of them differ.
The Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday reviewed each proposals from supervisors Corey Stewart, At-Large, Peter Candland, R-Gainesville, Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, and John Jenkins, D-Neabsco.
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It’s interesting watching the Prince William County FY2014 budget process play out form a coffee house on the East China Sea in Japan. It adds a level of abstraction to, what at least to me, should be a simple process.
In past years, the budget process was conducted in relative obscurity out of the public eye. Budget committees were formed to gather citizen input; however, (in retrospect – I served on four), the committees in which I participated were more for “show” than “go”. And then, on 11 November, 2011, we finally recognized what was going on with our money.
LAKE RIDGE, Va. — What played out as political theater earlier this year was revisited last night at a meeting of the Prince William Committee of 100.
At a panel discussion on transparency in local government, memories from a battle fought earlier this year to eradicate “discretionary funds” from the coffers of Prince William County Supervisors – about $335,000 in monies left over to each of the eight supervisors from the previous year’s budget to fix sidewalks, streetlights, and donate to community causes – were rehashed.